Ideate

Differentiating factors

by Andrew Smith on 28/09/06 at 9:55 am
2 comments

The other day in the office we somehow got on to the topic of credit cards, and whether we preferred MasterCard or Visa. (Some banks allow you on application to choose which logo you want on your credit card). A few of us immediately sided with one brand, and some with the other. But when pressed to give any tangible differences between the two providers, we came up with the following:

- “Isn’t Visa accepted in more places worldwide?” – Fred.

- “Visa sometimes runs competitions…. I think.” – Aubrey.

- “Mugg & Bean used to give a free cup of coffee if you paid with a MasterCard.” – Andrew.

Not a very impressive array of differentiating factors for the 2 companies. With all the money they spend on advertising (“Some things in life are priceless, for everything else there’s Mastercard”, and the Worldcup campaign a few years ago with a Visa card and a referee… I forget the details), you would think that we would be able to tell you what one company offers over the other.

Here are some other examples of companies who have done nothing to set themselves apart:

- BP, Engen, Shell and Total. They all sell an identical product at exactly the same price. Some of their outlets are cleaner than others, but I couldn’t tell you which one I prefer. I can’t even tell you which brand I frequent. I just know it’s on the way to the gym, on the right-hand side of the road, just before a swimming pool shop.

- OneTime and Kulula. Both are no-frills airlines who try and tell jokes on the plane to distract you from the cramped seats and the strange knocking sound coming from the vicinity of the engines. Pricing is entirely determined by how far in advance you book, so I couldn’t actually tell you which one is the lower-cost of the low cost airlines.

- BA and SAA. They serve stodgy rolls and free drinks and make no attempt at humour, but otherwise see above.

- Nedbank, ABSA, Standard Bank and FNB. Nedbank used to be “expensive” and “elite”, but they’re trying to change that image, and so the four banks are merging into a rather blurry mess at the moment. Various newspapers and auditing firms periodically try and compare the charges, but it is such a complex process that there aren’t any firm conclusions made. Other than cost, there aren’t major differences in service or products, at least not in my mind.

I imagine that large companies like these would find it very difficult to present a truly unique offering. They are generally averse to risk, and following the formula of their competitors is probably a safer bet.

However, small and new businesses in South Africa have a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd, as long as they have the guts to not follow the rest of the pack. What is your company doing to be different in the minds of your potential client-base?

Andrew Smith is the pedantic systems guy behind Live Alchemy, a SA e-commerce company. Andrew writes for Ideate in an attempt to make the world a more efficient place. View more articles by Andrew Smith.

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